Chapter 172: Blood In The Water
[JER]
Elodie Kane was jealous.
It was the only way to explain why she trashed her entire suite and made a mess of everything that led to her chambers. She had seen Jer with Malika earlier, and she had smelled the beautiful scent of a mate she wasn't meant to claim yet.
The woman had been in bed with her and yet as the evening pressed on, she was now in the arms of another, playing dead and listening to sweet nothings for a man she should have eliminated on the first day of her assignment, oh but Elodie was furious.
"Fucking hell, Kane. What the hell has gotten into you?" Theo asked, as he watched the warrior continue the mess. He had seen the way Elodie looked at her and Malika and his first thought was that Elodie was jealous, but not because of Jer.
Theo figured Elodie was jealous that Jer was with another, and she was acting out because she wanted to be the one the Alpha experienced hell for. It squirted the misunderstanding but it spread the woman's allegations of a life that could end in an instant.
"Why the fuck are you here?" Elodie asked angrily as she turned to look at Theo.
Her hair was messy and her bloodied clothes from earlier just made her look like she was insane. Perhaps she had finally gone insane from seeing the kind of contact Jer had with her mate.
Maybe she had finally lost it because the woman she loved was being held tenderly by another. Oh she hated Jer and if it didn't wasn't for Hawi, Elodie could have sliced the man's head off.
"The Alpha calls for you. He brought the Luna to his chambers and there is no one he trusts with her more than you," Theo said and Elodie glared at him like she hadn't understood a word that came from the man's mouth.
Of course she hadn't.
Her mind was foggy and her senses confused by the fact that the love of her life was playing house with another. It was fucking with her a little more than she would ever admit, but goodness, she wanted to be there for Malika.
"But seeing you state, I guess I will tell him that you are busy and he can choose another maiden for Luna," Theo said as he headed to the door, but right before the door opened, a sword flew past his ears and hit the door.
"Don't you make another move,'' Elodie warned and Theo raised his hands up in surrender.
He knew the pack had experienced so many losses and he down there was a lot for them to take in, but as the Alpha's lead warrior, he was certain he had to be there for when the Alpha needed him.
At this time, he and Elodie were the only people the Alpha trusted enough with the Luna or even the pack. It was all so complicated and they had to agree that shit was never going to be the same ever again.
"I'll take a shower and you fucking wait there. If you leave this room, I will kill you, Theo," Elodie warned and Theo just nodded in understanding. He knew a lot was going on and he didn't want to be alone after either.
He wanted to pretend that today didn't happen but the stench of their fallen ones benign stomped on out there was just too much. Perhaps there would be a way for them to get through this without more dead bodies, right?
"Yes, ma'am," Theo sighed while Elodie went to take a shower. She may have been jealous of Jer and wanted him dead, but she couldn't go to Malika looking like death.
Granted the woman wasn't dead or hurt, but she just had to show up looking better than the situation at hand. Perhaps that would give them all hope to live their lives after the madness, no?
Walking down the hallways ten minutes later, the two friends couldn't help but watch in horror as their comrades laid dead out there. The sight was one they would never forget and even then they tried to make it to the Alpha's chambers in silence.
Theo didn't reach the chambers though. Instead, he went to the Alpha's office where the elders were waiting. Maybe they would get something to keep the psychos away, even though there was a chance that Hawi wouldn't care about anything.
"Jer… You called for me," Elodie whispered when she reached her Alpha's chambers.
She could see how disheveled he was and he was traumatized by all that had happened. He looked so lost and so broken, his eyes were dull and his face had fallen. His hair was all over the place, not to mention his dirty clothes.
His skin had puncture marks from the thorns he had been subjected to and his breathing was labored. He seemed so out of touch with reality that when he had Elodie's voice he felt like crying.
She was the one person he could trust with his broken wife. It hurt that he couldn't be able to stay beside her and it turned him that even at his wife's greatest hour of need, he was useless.
"They took out her womb, you know? She made them ruin her for me, made them tear through her like she was just some crazed puppet. She was innocent, she was always happy, but SHE took that from me.
"She turned my Malika into this shell that I see now and goddess I want to kill HER so bad. I want to make her pay for all of this. I want to make her pay for taking my child away before it even frowns.
"I want to kill her for enabling the psychos. I want to make them pay, Kane. I want them to feel the pain too," Jer said, his voice breaking and his throat so dry even as he ran a hand gently on Malika.
He couldn't believe that she was in this state.
Her lips were crushed, her face looked so botched anyone would think she had a failed surgery. Her hands were scarred and her fingers had tears in them. She had experienced so much pain.
Jer was mourning for the woman who meant the world to him.
"We will make them all pay for this. We won't forgive anyone, Jer. We won't forgive anyone. I don't care if she was my best friend, I will join you in burning them all," Elodie said, the sincerity and her voice betraying the joy she felt when she had seen Hawi.
She had been so glad to be fighting alongside her sister once again and frankly, she wanted to go and hug Hawi.
But she couldn't because this was some crazed game that they all had to play parts in, parts that needed to be punched up a notch higher with every show they succeeded in putting on.
It was cruel, but it was deserved and for that they wouldn't stop, at least that much was obvious.
"I don't even know what I'll tell her when she wakes up, or even if she ever wakes up. How do I tell the woman I love that I failed her a second time? How do I tell her that it will be okay even if we don't have pups, when her womb was ripped from her?
"Where do I even start, Elodie?" Jer asked, his head in his arms as he tried to think. But would it give him any relief?
***
[A/N]
* Hi! you waited for privilege for a while, no? No worries, just one final tier to go, and then the updates will go back to normal next week... couldn't release them at once :(
* I hope you guys are having a fantastic New Year 2024